Weather or not, Milton Street has bad luck

IT'S PROBABLY safe to assume that T. Milton Street Sr. is not destined to be our next mayor. But maybe he's not even destined to be a candidate.

The 73-year-old tax-evading former state senator said in early January that he'd be launching his mayoral campaign at a funeral parlor in a couple weeks.

Then, he decided to do it at a church. But the Rev. Keith Goodman, pastor of one of the churches he was eying for the event, kept dodging his calls. Goodman, perhaps not coincidentally, is now running for mayor himself.

So, Street planned to launch the campaign in mid-February at New Jerusalem Baptist Church in North Philadelphia. But that was canceled on account of bad weather.

Then, on Tuesday, he was supposed to have a fundraiser at Ori Feibush's coffee shop. That, too, was postponed. Weather again.

Meanwhile, Street unwittingly signed rival mayoral candidate Jim Kenney's nominating petition (see last week's Clout). His son told us it was really dark at Ladder 15 when the petition was circulating.

Street's latest campaign kickoff was scheduled for last night. Then it snowed. So he postponed it again.

This time, Street did not reschedule. Good idea. Our advice: Just launch that sucker in your garage, Milton. Live stream it. We'll tune in.

Think about young people moving to Philadelphia these days and you see visions of obnoxiously skinny jeans, beards and bicycles. What you probably don't think of are parking lots.

But now we have Philly 3.0, a new "Super PAC" fronted by youthful leaders T.J. Hurst and Ali Perelman, that purports to represent all things millennial.

Word on the street is that they are quietly pushing some decidedly un-hip prerogatives on behalf of the group's backers - parking magnates Robert and Joe Zuritsky, of Parkway Corp.

Rumored to have millions to drop on the primary, 3.0 says it's looking to spend it on youthful, insurgent City Council candidates who will push issues millennials care about. But at least two Council hopefuls they approached were quizzed on, of all things, their support for reducing the city's parking tax, a source told us.

Maybe it's not surprising - the asphalt kings have written editorials opposing hikes to the tax and even lobbied Council to reduce the levy by 25 percent. Parkway Corp. allegedly left the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce over its wavering support for tax cuts.

But it's not true, says Hurst.

"It's absolutely not the case that we have talked to any candidates, as an organization, about the parking tax," he said.

The Zuritskys amassed 3.0's largesse by banding together with the city's real estate community. It's a risky move as backing insurgents risks jeopardizing sitting council members support for their development projects.

Developers who met with the Zuritskys were told that 3.0 was modeled off similar "dark money" organizations in New York City, like Jobs for New York, which poured millions into council races there but, because of a campaign-finance quirk, do not have to report where contributions come from.

A source who attended a Philly 3.0 event last year said it was packed with local developers who heard a presentation from the group's pitchman, politically connected attorney, Union League fixture and non-millennial David Maser. The ask, according to multiple sources, was a 10-year, $25,000 a year commitment.

To a wealthy, established developer, that amounts to a rounding error in comparison to the possible windfalls from a more business-friendly council.

But for the millennial that Philly 3.0 purports to represent, that's a whole lotta IPAs.

We at Clout are not oblivious to campaign-trail fashion trends.

When retired Navy Adm. Joe Sestak snaps into campaign mode, for instance, we keenly observe his ubiquitous green bomber jacket and speculate about whether it gives him superpowers - such as the ability to campaign non-stop without sleep.

But it was Sestak's footwear that caught everyone's attention Wednesday when he kicked off his U.S. Senate campaign: a pair of ratty, vintage Reebok high-tops, a la Marty McFly.

We posted a photo on Instagram that immediately wound up on the Washington Post website under the headline, "Joe Sestak is running for Senate in 2016. With sneakers from 1987."

Apparently, Sestak, 63, has been wearing these things for years.

A Democratic insider who interviewed for a job in Sestak's congressional office in 2007 says he still can't forget the sight of them.

"I could not keep my eyes off of his Reeboks. Mesmerizing," he said. "I'm still traumatized by the tongues."

We emailed Sestak - who slept in a Northeast Philadelphia church Wednesday night before starting the second day of his statewide walking tour (in boots, btw) - and he got back to us yesterday morning:

"I have worn the same sneakers [or nearly same] since the 80's [Keds before]. I just felt comfortable in them," Sestak wrote. "I bought a few pairs online a few years ago when they were harder to get. Now I am to my last pairs [go on eBay and you can buy a used pair for $500!]. No way, my wife says :)"

So why those sneaks?

"I like them because I don't like to tie shoelaces on sneakers, and they hang high when untied and are easy to then slip off by using my feet," he wrote. "Military efficiency!"

Former D.A. Lynne Abraham became the first mayoral candidate to file her nominating petitions this week (1,013 signatures - 1,000 are required - with more to come.)

What does she win? She gets to pick first from the famous Board of Elections Horn & Hardart coffee can in the draw for ballot positions. Of course, that doesn't mean the ping-pong ball she blindly picks from the can will be the ballot position she wants.

In any event, top of the ballot isn't a big factor for well-known mayoral candidates. But it can make or break judicial or City Council candidates, who often have low name recognition. The first name on the ballot is usually a winner.

That coffee can has driven many a candidate from the race.

Staff writers William Bender, Wendy Ruderman and

The Next Mayor's Ryan W. Briggs

contributed to this report.

Phone:215-854-5255

On Twitter: @wbender99 and @rw_briggs